31 December 2014

Okay, it's New
Year's Eve and it's time to look back at 2014. I have collected here
my favourite photos, moments and recipes from 2014 and linked back to
the posts (obviously not all recipes aren't originally mine, and when
that's the case I have mentioned it). There were many dishes made
this year, and I have selected here some of my favourites. I didn't
want to make a too long post, so I had to be very selective with the
recipes, and also chose to add picture collages instead of the
individual photos.

As I was looking
back at the year, I realised how lucky I have been with all these
wonderful travels and good food. I had more trips than ever, mostly
to my home country but also to others. I certainly appreciate a lot
that I was able to do this.

January

In January I
celebrated my first blog anniversary and grew more and more fond of
blogging the whole time. I visited Oxford, where I try to go at least
once a year and stay in the hotel Malmaison, which used to be a
medieval gaol and Victorian prison just next to a Norman castle. I have many
favourite pubs in Oxford, but one of them is The Eagle and Child, where the local
literary group the Inklings used to drink. I love making my
own pasta and made red pepper ravioli.

February

In February I was
often cooking British food, and one dish in this category was
Scottish tattie scones – what a perfect breakfast it was! I also
baked traditional Finnish Runeberg's torte, a recipe that I'm trying
to perfect each year. I'm a big fan of veggie pizza, so one evening I
had a mini pizza party.

In April a dream
came true for me and I got to visit Paris for the first time! Spring
in Paris really is well worth experiencing. During this month I was
inspired to cook a lot French style, but also posted some Easter
recipes such as lemon and white chocolate muffins.

I just loved the
whole warm summer this year, and July was a particularly busy month
for me. My brother visited me with his girlfriend and we showed them
some of the southern English countryside and London, but I think that
the shetties and their foals in New Forest were the highlight. Then I
returned to France to make holiday in Avignon and its surroundings.
July was the right time for eating salads and I made among others
this mixed summer salad. Balcony gardening was going well and I was
able to bake spelt and carrot rolls from my own small carrots, which
were the first carrots I've grown on the balcony.

August

In August I was
being a clumsy cook as I burned my small hedgehog paw when frying a
pizza made from Provencal produce. The
fried pizza was so tasty though that I didn't mind the injury too
much. Then I had another great holiday when I visited my family in
Finland again. It was a great summer, weather being warm throughout.

October was all
German themed. I wrote my first trilingual post about a German
classic Currywurst, but of course made its vegetarian version.
Later that month I visited Hamburg and Bremen for a few days.

In December we got
to my favourite holiday and I started posting all things Christmas. I
baked a flourless chocolate cake and set Spike on top of it. I made a warm and cold acorn squash, halloumi, lentil and pomegranate salad. Then I
spent Christmas with my family in Finland. Yesterday I got back from
a short trip to Oxford, where I got a huge shock when I detected that
my favourite tree (and that of J.R.R. Tolkien), the magnificent old
Pinus Nigra, had been felled. Of course the Botanic Garden
wouldn't fell it just for the sake of it, but there had been an
incident in the summer, when two large limbs had suddenly fallen off
the tree. As the result they had no other option than to fell the
whole tree, as it had become structurally unsound. It was an
extremely sad sight and I had to shed a few tears when I saw it.
Below is a photo taken of the tree in January this year and then the
chopped pile of wood from December, and also a visiting squirrel on
the pile (there's also another photo from the Garden with the pine on
it in the January section).

Obviously this
wasn't the best ending for the year, but I still feel that I have
been very lucky and happy this year and am excited to see what 2015
will bring.

Now I want to thank you all for this
year and wish you a wonderful New Year! See you next year!

I have just decorated the Christmas tree and will now start heating the traditional Christmas Eve daytime sauna. But first I wanted to share my spelt and forest mushroom nut roast recipe with you. This dish is going to feature at our family dinner tonight.

23 December 2014

We're finally very close to Christmas. Here in Finland the celebrations already start tomorrow. There's some snow around here and a pleasant frost, so it's looking good.

Tasty drinks are as an important part of the holiday season as is the food. Mulled wine and cider need to be obtained for the celebrations as well as diverse Christmas beers. Obviously I will only be sipping and tasting these drinks, by no means drinking excessively.

Of course I have been tasting some international Christmas beers for you even this year. Here are my tasting notes on them.

Het Anker Gouden Carolus Christmas 10,5 %

- strong liquorice and anise taste in the beginning

- then rum and raisin and maybe plums after that

- quite different from the other Christmas beers I tasted

St Eriks Bryggeri Julale 5,4 %

- malt character

- mango and papaya

- malty honey aftertaste

- forwardly hoppy without bitterness

- loads of character of late addition of hops

Tuborg Christmas Brew 5,6 %

- malty, a little toffee and banana with a smoky finish

- rather nice wintery, Christmassy beer

- nutty in the aftertaste

- subtle apple taste throughout

BrewDog Santa Paws 4,5 %

- Christmas Scotch ale

- lovely dark deep colour, originally I said "darker than the night" when I saw it

- slight tar and smoke in the taste

- tastes of sweet caramel, roasted malt and even coffee

- aroma of burnt toffee and banana

- bitter yet smooth mouthfeel

Downton Brewery Chocolate Orange Delight 5,7 %

- strong chocolate taste

- burnt notes especially in the aftertaste

- copperly tang

- dark with a citrussy bitterness

Abbaye des Rocs Speciale Noel 9,0 %

- smells of caramel

- has a sweet caramel, toffee, plum and vanilla taste with something fruity, almost like a scorched pear

21 December 2014

A rice pudding type porridge, joulupuuro, is the traditional
Christmas breakfast in Finland. It's a must on the Christmas Eve in
my family, but it might also be enjoyed on the other holiday
mornings. It's served with sugar and cinnamon, and this is the only
porridge that I eat sweet. However the porridge itself will be
seasoned with salt when it cooks, so it's not fully sweet.

A peeled almond will be added to the porridge and who ever finds it,
will be very lucky for the coming year. They can also make a wish,
but not reveal it to anyone. Sometimes the almond can be quite tricky
to spot, and if you're keen on being lucky, you should just keep
eating the porridge.

I
wanted to find a very basic recipe for making this, and I followed
this recipe by Kotiliesi. I have written it here in English, as the
original is in Finnish.

Ingredients

2 dl water

1 tbsp butter

1 l milk

2 dl pudding rice

1 cinnamon stick (optional)

1 tsp salt

1 peeled almond

For serving: Ground cinnamon, sugar, milk

Method

Use a saucepan with a thick bottom for this, as this porridge can
burn very easily. Also remember to stir often although the cooking
time is fairly long (a bit over an hour).

Bring the water and butter to the boil. Then add the water and also
bring it to the boil. Add the rice and let boil for about 5-10
minutes. Stir the pot constantly during this. At this stage you can
also add a cinnamon stick to bring some extra flavour. I skipped this
stage, as the porridge will be served with cinnamon anyway.

Let the porridge simmer at low heat for about one hour. Stir it every
now and again.

Season the ready porridge with salt.

Add the almond and serve the porridge warm with sugar and cinnamon
and possibly some additional cold milk.

19 December 2014

Why can't a veggie
burger or Schnitzel be part of a Christmas meal, especially in
various pre-Christmas parties? I think it certainly can, and would
make a refreshing change. That's why I made Christmassy sweet potato
and bean burgers.

Make with this recipe about 16
generous sized burgers.

Ingredients

1 kg sweet
potatoes

240 g / 1 can red
kidney beans

2 onions

3 garlic cloves

1 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp chilli
flakes

½ tsp ground
coriander

½ tsp smoked
paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

Ground black
pepper to taste

Ground nutmeg to
taste

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 dl spelt flour
(or wheat)

3 eggs

2 dl semolina

1 dl breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for
frying

Method

Peel the sweet
potatoes, boil them in water and mash. I did this stage on the
previous night, as I'm known to be impatient to wait for the mash to
cool. It also gets a bit firmer and easier to handle, if it rests
longer. Anyway, let the mash cool, even if you boil the sweet
potatoes on the same day.

Chop the onions
and garlic finely and cook them soft in olive oil. Add the beans to
the pan with the seasoning and let cook for a few minutes. Then also
let this mix cool.

Combine the bean
mix with the sweet potato mash and add the maple syrup. Add couple of
tablespoons of flour to the batter, if it feels too soft and the
burgers won't hold together.

Make an assembly
line of three plates: flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs combined with
semolina.

Heat vegetable oil
in a frying pan and start shaping the burgers. Then roll them first
in the flour, then the egg wash and finally the breadcrumbs. Fry the
burgers on both sides until crispy.

Serve with rolls
or as Schnitzel. I also served here some sea buckthorn jelly on the
side in whimsical hedgehog and mushroom shapes.

18 December 2014

Gingerbread
cookies always belong to Christmas, but this year I wanted to make
something different. Instead of plain cookies or a gingerbread house,
I made a small woodland animal diorama. In my plans it was much more
spectacular than how it actually turned out, but never mind, I was
happy with it. Maybe next year I can spend more time with such a
project, as it was great fun! It reminded me a little bit of the huge
horse head gingerbread cookies that I used to bake for my horse and
pony friends at Christmas – those were the days! Have you made any
creative work with gingerbread?

So, this is a
photo post of my creation. The woodland animals are mainly hedgehogs
of course, but if you look very closely, you might spot one or the
other different species as well.

Who is The VegHog?

A vegetarian hobby cook and urban gardener born in Finland, currently living in Denmark. I try to develop my cooking skills by making a wide variety of veggie dishes, some of them traditional and some new creations. My favourites include veggie burgers, squashes, organic and local produce, cider, spelt, rye, pizzas, pasta dishes, risottos and sea-buckthorn.
Follow theveghog on Instagram and @TheVegHog on Twitter!